Fool’s Gold.

So I travel everywhere by bus, yes I am that person, a bus wan**r, I only ever sit my butt in a car and that’s when the wife has to pick me up or whatever we get to do as a pair, by and large I have a tendency to get the same bus into work 06.00 to the nearest metropolitan space and then another to my place of work, every now and then I might go in on the 07.00 bus it takes me to the same destination however it does go a slightly different route, on that particular bus there’s a young lady (early twenties) who gets on with her mobile phone glued to her hand. Occasionally she sits in front of me I have noticed that she is playing on line gambling, not just occasionally but all the time, she must win at some point because for that forty minute bus ride she plays non stop she was doing as the bus pulls up and was playing as she got off the bus, not taking any notice of the people or the world around her!

I have seen the same person in the Tesco’s near the bus station buying scratch cards, yes, I said cards as in plural, and they aint cheap, so at some point she must be a winner. Now I don’t understand the logic of the people who do this, I’m not against anybody gambling I know I’m simply not very good at it, the only gambling I do is I occasionally do the lottery, and get wound up if I don’t win the entry fee back,  but to spend what seems to be every waking minute gambling  is well to be honest shocking.

I do have friends who gamble and they do seem to do quite well, as one explained he has good days and bad days, but by and large he is up in his stakes he might not win big but he has never lost, well not substantial amounts, the wife and I have a friend who had lost £4000 on the first day of a racing meeting and was a little down as he thought he would do better, this was a Friday night, “I’ll win over the course of the weekend” it was a bank holiday weekend and by the Monday he was up by £14000, WTF, my mind was blown I simply could not comprehend the thought process, like I say I’m unhappy if I put the lottery on and don’t win my tickets price back.

Now I have worked with some older people (this was when I was a teenager, I know a long time ago) and some of those people would literally bet on anything, one guy even bet his house and lost, his wife did  batter him after it happened, but she didn’t leave him, they were still together the last time I saw them (about twenty years ago) they seem to have a system, that’s most gamblers, my brain doesn’t seem to work the same way, sometimes I wish it did, but I know that I’m too much of a coward to even try.

Now what brought about this little missive, well this morning we had an amazon delivery and they never close the gate and it was banging away, I was working from home and I knew that the gate would distract me, so I did my duty to shut the gate who was walking up the road to the bus station, but the young lady from the bus and yes she had a handful of scratch cards in her hand and she was scratching away, its funny how you notice some people and you don’t know them, but they keep popping up in your life!

Yes, I know this is a short one but you can’t have and peace all of the time, yes the name game is in play this was the track I was playing when I first saw her on the bus all those years ago, I made an entry about the thought for a blog and after seeing her this morning, I dug out my notes and with the exception of this last paragraph have typed what my notes words in my notes, if your interested I’ve had those notes for over five years, sad I know, or maybe I was gambling that I might actually get a blog out of it, ha ha ha ha did you see what I did there, anyway, enjoy stay safe and stay alive, until the next one ……Toodles!

 

Oh, and by the way I am working on something special that will be arriving soon!

This Dog Don’t Hunt.

I’m not a very competitive person, I kind of never have been since I was a kid, allegedly if you come from a “broken home” god I hate that expression, Girls and I mean all girls become super competitive, boys either become super competitive or not as the case maybe,  well in my family group my brother became the super competitive person, and he still is and I kind of simply Bimble along, that’s not to say I didn’t have my moments but I do get less competitive as I get older, let me explain.

I played football for various teams, school and the boys brigade I wasn’t particularly good, but I had speed, I was an ok defender but not many could catch me, so I used that to my advantage, I was soon found out and by the time I was 15 I kind of wasn’t interested anymore, I used to have the odd kick about but it was once in a blue moon amongst friends although I had the chance I never joined another competitive team, I was a really good short distance sprinter and I destroyed the competition for five years, my last race at school I got beat for the first time and then basically lost interest, the only thing that I was super competitive about as a child was history, my favourite lesson at school, my lowest score in 5 years was 96% and nobody came even close to me in all that time at senior school, I was a sponge and I soaked it up, I could do a massive blog about my time at school for history as the head of the department hated me, but I got the last laugh, hey ho possibly another blog down the road.

After that I simply didn’t give a rats ass, if I got beat I got beat I shrugged my shoulders and moved on, I played against my brother in squash for six months, he gave up as I wasn’t a challenge, I never won a game, he refused to play me after that, he didn’t understand why I was simply happy to play but not win, it’s not that I don’t wish to succeed, but I do the best that I can on the day, I am good at certain things and I always work to the best of my ability, I have no desire to suck at anything, I always put my best foot forward, but as far as I’m concerned it is what it is!

I was ok at a lot of things but over the years with successive injuries I have kind of got worn down, and I have had quite a few injuries, I only have one rib left to damage and then I will have a full set, I have broke both legs twice, I have broke my collar bone twice, various bones in my feet, I have destroyed my rotator cuff in my right shoulder, I haven’t had it repaired so I kind of manage with it, I explained the numerous hits to the head as a younger person and the fallout regarding those hits in a previous blog,  my knees have been destroyed by twenty years of half marathons and only one full marathon (never ever again) and 35 years of working in a place where the floors didn’t give adequate support for your knees (solid concrete) I wore my supports and assorted PPE, but wear and tear catches up with you ( I don’t look bad for 92).

I am very happy to take part but don’t expect me to be competitive, at times I wish I was, but this old body is well worn out so the chances of me shinning in  that department have long gone. That also doesn’t mean that I won’t get super competitive if I have a point to prove, I like to think I’m a good father (I could do better and I always strive to be) I’m good at my job (I could do better and again I always give it my best) I like to think I’m a very good husband ( thankfully that’s due to the tutelage and help from my wife) but as always I probably could do better, at least I’m not as angry as I used to be.

Why have I written this blog , well today I do actually feel like a very old person, I dropped something on the floor and the noises that were escaping from me as I tried (thankfully successfully) to retrieve said item were disturbing to say the least, thankfully there was nobody else ( I hope) in the room to hear me, me being competitive and super fit well that ship has sailed, and if I am being truthful I really don’t care, having said that I am slightly competitive regarding the blog with the intention that each one does better than the last.

So, another one down and just some kind random thought that popped into my head as I travelled to work and thankfully I got the bones of it down in a note book I had to hand, that’s how mind works these days, thank you to the people who are still reading these missives as the numbers for this year have been fab, so keep watching the skies there will be more incoming soon, stay safe and stay alive until the next time….. Toodles!

Now Hear This 12.

1.      Where do Your Blogs go: I think this question is down to the language barrier of the written word, either that or people are using Google translate badly, I post them online, advertise them on social media and then they get filled under DONE!

2.      Will I release anymore books: I would if I had the skill set, the holiday blogs suit the book treatment more than the web, but I think life’s too short to worry about it, if I can I will, if I can’t then be like me and don’t lose any sleep over it!

3.      Are you a nerd: erm probably, who knows we are all nerds in our own little ways, I’m not a nerd in a technology way, I don’t have a special skill set, I just blunder on in life, so I suppose I’m a nerd regarding life.

4.      What inspires you: Life the universe and everything, a spark can pop into my head at any time, if I don’t record it here and then it’s gone forever , I probably lose around 95% of my ideas as they happen when I can’t even make a note of the idea, but in reality its nearly always life and just occasionally a song will trigger a memory and away I go.

5.      What helps you choose: again its more to do with how I feel, today this is my third blog of the day sometimes I am very good at getting ideas formed and then down onto paper, but sometimes I don’t write for a couple of days, they usually choose themselves, you kind of get a feeling for them, they stand out, you know if it’s got legs, I rarely write a fully prepared blog and dispose of it these days, purely and simply there’s stuff that I have gotten rid of, and I regret it as I know I simply should have let the idea breath.

6.      Have you changed your perspective: I suppose I have, I could say I’m older and wiser, but I’m probably not lol, I’m much calmer these days, don’t get me wrong I can still howl at the moon, but I simply tend to go with the flow, being angry very rarely gets you anywhere in life and it’s the same in a writing sense, from time to time I have written angry and to be honest when I look back I tend to dislike what I have written.

7.      What blogs are popular: I know this question is one of the most popular, of late everything is, as the blog has been hitting high triple figures every day, some more than others, the first year I rarely hit triple figures for all of them and then suddenly it changed, I have no idea why but these days you might get a couple that only do low triple figures, but the bulk of them creep over the four figure mark, the best read one is still Girls which has had nearly 4000 hits since it was published.

8.      Does your family read them: the wife used to, but I don’t think she does now, when it was based on our social life, yes just to make sure that I hadn’t burnt any bridges, but as for the rest of the family, nope I don’t think they do, they have their own lives to get on with.

9.      Why the long gaps between blogs: it all depends on my mental health at the time, I might simply have writers block, it might simply be I have a life to live and its getting in the way, read the blogs and decide where I am at on the day, I wish I could post something substantial every day I simply can’t, sometimes the previous blog is still trending and I know if I post something it stops the previous blog dead in its tracks, I am simply trying to be the best version of me on any given day.

10. How is your health: to be honest its pretty shit but hopefully on an upward trajectory, I have been told I can have a new knee but no date as of yet, my diabetes is doing really well, and my mental health is doing ok, it’s pretty even at the moment a few minor blips along the way but nothing to be worried about.

11. Have you any unfinished blogs that you intend to publish: I recently started the holiday blog and ran into technology issues, this caused the numbers to splutter as I couldn’t publish the chapters in a timely manner, the world lost interest (the numbers died very quickly, mind you it might just have been a shit blog) so I lost interest, the last part is written with no intentions of posting it, it seems very joyless so nope that’s one not going to be finished, by and large it’s a rare thing for me for not to finish a blog I think this is only the third one where I felt disinclined to continue.

12. Would I write a novel: I have tried a number of times and I do have a number of ideas fleshed out however I don’t like any of the work I put into them, so at the moment I have four good (well I think they are) ideas, one has the potential to be a serial, however unless I could devote some serious and I mean serious amount of time I doubt that they will get completed. I have the outlines, I have the story, what I don’t have and it’s the hardest part is the voice for the characters!

13. Favourite blog to write: no idea, I like them all when I write them and then hate them all once they are posted, I have a soft spot for a couple but only because I have gone back to read after somebody has asked me a question regarding them, and I think, actually that’s not bad!

14. Have you written any and not released/published them: at the last count its standing at around 350, not all are completed, some might simply be a line as a start but gone no further, every now and again I flick through my notes and if something was to take my fancy I might do something with it, I started one called Fools Gold its only two paragraphs but I think I have an idea on how to finish it, watch this space.

15. Which blog has had the most comments: the blog “Girls” hands down as everybody wants to know more about “the girl who stole my heart and buried it out on the moors” and I’m still not going to say!

16. You don’t seem to mention anything political: Opinions are like arseholes everybody has one, and my opinions are exactly that mine, I used to be very political but my faith in all parties has been shattered, good luck to you and all who sail with you, for me I’ll keep my powder dry for when I want to really have someone come after me…..oops!

17. Who do you not like: Liars, first and foremost, fake people and we all know that there are a lot of them about, and bullies, especially bullies who hid in plain sight and are everybody’s bestest buddies but in reality they are horrible shitty people who talks shit about everybody behind their backs, there is one person at the top of my list I could name names but I would lose 95% of my friends enough said!

18. Where does the Walks With Broken Hoop name come from: a medical condition, I was taking a medication for an ailment that gave off gas more noxious than anything released in the great war, it was my native American name given to me by a well-known welder.

19. What is the biggest issue for the blog: a one-word answer is time, if I had more time, I might be slightly more consistent, but I don’t at the moment so everybody will have to grin and bear it.

20. What does the future hold: well more blogs coming your way, the numbers have been incredible of late and I know they cant last, well they could but I doubt that they will as I alluded to earlier in this blog, there are a small number already written, I have a number of ideas that  I wish to work on and you never know when a spark might pop up, I would love to do more historical social life ones, but I honestly, I don’t want to just spew some crap out, the historical ones are the hardest to do, yes I have some fabulous memories of me and my friends from my past that I would want to spend the time and do the memories justice, if you want to know what I mean go find the blog “The Dawn Patrol” that took over nine days to write and polish to a standard I was happy with, it had to be the truth and not some wispy parcel of bullshit.

So there you  go another “Now Hear This” blog, truth be told I could do another 80 questions, as I have so many queries regarding the blogs, I do get a lot of questions, I might answer something if I think it deserves a personal answer but usually I save them for these blogs, as a lot of the questions are very similar, if I haven’t responded and its not amongst this set go back through the previous eleven blogs chances are they are amongst the previous sets.

So that’s it for now watch the skies for incoming I have been writing up a storm, and these blogs will be published, stay safe and stay alive, until the next time I publish some woeful crap/masterpiece, you decide……..Toodles!

Prosopagnosia

 

No the title does not refer to an unreleased Def Leppard album, I have had a number of queries from people regarding some of my identified health issues I suffer from, at one point I thought I was suffering from early onset dementia, I even joked about it while I was teaching, which I got reported to HR for, thankfully somebody else on the course (the beauty of working in a teaching establishment) thought I had another condition which they did some tests on me (during work time) and they were very happy when the diagnosis came back as they had never come across a case personally, here comes the technical bit, and no I didn’t write it, it comes directly from a medical site!

Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, is a cognitive disorder of face perception in which the ability to recognize familiar faces, including one's own face (self-recognition), is impaired, while other aspects of visual processing (e.g., object discrimination) and intellectual functioning (e.g., decision-making) remain intact. The term originally referred to a condition following acute brain damage (acquired prosopagnosia), but a congenital or developmental form of the disorder also exists, with a prevalence of 2–2.5%.

A common misconception is that prosopagnosics see faces' contours and details as blurry or distorted. The condition is not characterized by warped visuals. Seeing distorted faces is a common symptom of prosopometamorphopsia, not prosopagnosia.

Acquired prosopagnosia results from occipital-temporal lobe damage and is most often found in adults. It is subdivided into apperceptive and associative prosopagnosia.

There are no widely accepted treatments. Though there have been several attempts at remediation, no therapies have demonstrated lasting improvements across a group of prosopagnosics. Prosopagnosics often learn to use "piecemeal" or "feature-by-feature" recognition strategies. This may involve secondary clues such as clothing, gait, hair colour, skin colour, body shape, and voice.

Because the face seems to function as an important identifying feature in memory, it can be difficult for prosopagnosics to keep track of information about people and socialize normally.

Prosopagnosia leads to social challenges, as inability to recognize faces can be misinterpreted as lack of interest in others. Using visual or auditory cues in place of facial recognition is unreliable and tiring. The condition can also be emotionally strenuous to mask, increasing the likelihood of social anxiety and depression.

I was flabbergasted, as I have been having issues for a number of years and had reduced my ability to reply to people, on hair styles their gait and even voices, I even overheard some people say I was “difficult” I’m really not but I do struggle in “social” situations, I moved back to my hometown over 23 years ago and I said to my brother that I hadn’t seen any of my old friends in that time, this explains a lot, I’m not being stand offish I am literally face blind, I’m not as some people think difficult, I do recognise myself (I’m sorry to say) .

My issue was probably caused by several hits to the head (no jokes please) I fell down some stone stairs at school (at age 11) in which I lost my sense of smell, it does come back periodically really intensely but only lasts about ten minutes at a time, it was because of this injury that I was prone to fits of rage especially if I was slapped across the head, I fractured my skull and it took nearly three years to heal, it came in handy after a couple of incidents with a couple of bullies and I kind of went bat shot crazy on them, people tended to leave me alone after that, an incident in the army involving falling from a helicopter (only a short distance) and my NCO dropping my rifle down to me (oops) and my helmet had come off, again I was dazed and confused for a couple of days(wasn’t I always) and the last one was at my last place of work doing a job on the back of a pick-up instead of setting up a mobile scaffold, we decided to work off the back of a pick-up truck as it was quicker (and it was job and knock quite litrally) and I had an argument with a steel girder in a multi-story car park, I lost! I then spent three days in hospital recovering, but that seems to be the root cause of my issue.

It’s not going to get any worse and it’s certainly not going to kill me, however there isn’t any cure either at least nothing definitive, so no not being difficult or awkward or even ignorant if you know me and you see me say hello, honestly you will make me the happiest person around and hopefully I can stop thinking that the world hates me!

Thankfully after the slight detour the blog is getting itself back on track as I have a number already written and hot to trot, sorry the condition doesn’t stop me from typing up this drivel, I thought I better say it before anybody else di, stay safe, stay alive and I will see you around next time but until then…..Toodles!

Four on the Floor - 1979.

 

1979 was the year my interest in music went into overdrive I did lots of part time jobs so I went from buying the odd single every now and again to buying an album a week, on these “Four on the Floor” blogs I simply pick four random albums and give an honest opinion of them, some I might like, some I might not, even if it’s a band I like you will always get an honest review!

Motorhead – Overkill     1979. 8/10.

I will be honest and admit to not being a huge of the band at the time, this album appealed to me as I was a huge fan of the Dickies at the time, I like it loud and fast was my motto for music back in the day. And this fitted the bill perfectly, I loved the album cover, I love the title track, and it does exactly what it says on the tin it rocks big style, it gets in, slaps you around the face and then gallops off into the distance, with tracks like Capricorn and Metropolis and Stay Clean, I still don’t how they didn’t get sued for the riff to No Class, but it does the job that its designed to do, I love Lemmy’s Lyrics and while I do have a couple of albums in my collection, I wouldn’t say that I’m their biggest fan, when they rock they do it better than most!

Bad Company -  Desolation Angels     1979. 9/10.

The first album that I bought on the day of release by the band and I was praying that it wasn’t as crap as the previous one Burning Sky, which I hated, I loved the first three albums, Running with the pack is still my number one go to album by them but this is a close second, believe it or not it loses a bit because of the very polished production, there’s not a bad performance or a bad song on the album , pure class every single step of the way, it was a shame that they tried to recreate the magic with the same formula with the next album Rough Diamonds and got it so wrong, good old fashioned Rock N Roll best played loud.

ACDC – Highway to Hell     1979. 9.5/10.

Again I had albums by the band but I was sat in my local record shop to buy this on the day of release, and I loved it straight away, its hard to guess which one I prefer to this and the Back In Black both albums firing on all six cylinders and the production on both albums were polished beyond belief (hence the slight markdown on the rating) I will be honest as good as the title song is I don’t think it’s the best song on the album, and if I never heard it again I wouldn’t miss it, its great I’m just sick of hearing it, lots of people will say I’m a godless heathen, hey its just my opinion, you can have yours I’ll have mine!

For the record Beating around the bush is my favourite, although I rarely flick through the album, I always play it from the start right through the end (nano nano – shazbat).

Led Zeppelin – In through the Outdoor     1979 8/10.

Everybody who knows me knows that I am not a fan of the band, I get why people like them (although it took until Coda for me to get it) I had no interest in them at all, didn’t like them, I didn’t care for Jimmy Page (still don’t) but this was left at my house by a friend of my brothers and I wanted to see what the fuss was all about, it took a couple of listens before I kind of got it, I even covered (only in band rehearsals ) Hot Dog (we called it “I’m Pissed Again” I won’t take the credit for the lyric rewrite) it was a laugh, but by the time I had finished playing the album a couple of times I have to admit to having enjoyed it, probably because there’s not a lot of Jimmy Page influence in the song writing, I’m still not a fan of the band, I can take them or leave them, I still don’t care for Mr Page his guitar playing, his production methods or his plagiaristic attitudes to old blues players, but hey ho he’s still rich and I’m not, I became a fan of Robert Plant and his solo stuff because he doesn’t try and copy this formula, at least he tries different things, this is still the only album by the band that I can listen to all the way through in one sitting!

Feral

The country seems as though it is going to hell in a hand basket, it’s a one-way ticket to oblivion and the brakes have failed! Many people are struggling; there seems to be a fine line between those that have and (the many) those that do not.

I keep telling myself that I must be looking back to the “good old days” with rose tinted glasses, in all honesty we had very little, but we simply got on with life, nowadays if you want to have a decent (not good) standard of living, you need both parents working, I recently read a study that the modern family is only 12 weeks away from destitution, I can really believe it. When I was a kid I was respectful, I was polite, I tried to be on my best behaviour, nowadays I see large groups of kids (not all) simply being feral, swearing fighting, throwing things generally having a lack of respect for their elders, I’m sure they weren’t brought up like that, maybe they were, but its disheartening, most kids simply don’t give a F**k at all about anything, I don’t drive so I would say about 97% of the time I use public transport, there’s food being smeared all over seats, windows, stuff thrown at people and generally causing mayhem, the bus drivers can’t do anything as they are by themselves.

Now I don’t believe I have fallen into the “old man” syndrome it simply seems to be getting worse, it’s not helped with “adults” that are just as bad as the kids, the drunks, the smack rats ( I do not apologise for using this term) I will gladly give to the homeless but not to a suspected smack rat, buy a homeless person a sandwich and a cup of coffee, they are gracious and thankful, but buy a smack rat the same they are more likely to throw it in your face, simply because they want the money to buy, yes you guessed it, more smack, the police have been rendered impotent as there are too few of them and they have lost any respect that the public had for them simply because of the actions of a few bad apples!

I blame the Thatcher years(the 80’s) that’s when drugs seemed to become more and more prevalent as the decade pushed on, I certainly don’t have the answers, and I don’t attach the blame to any political parties, they all share the blame equally as they do not do anything but stuff their snouts in the trough and feed, there might be one or two good ones, but not many in my opinion, all the ones that I have met have been vain, arrogant and simply full of their own importance. Some of them aren’t even politicians they are simply shit stirrers dressed in posh suits!

Apologies if this blog has upset anybody but I simply wanted to vent, I’m going to cut it short here because otherwise it will simply turn into a massive pile of bile! Yes I know I am getting older, and I don’t think that I am any wiser than I was when I left school, but most of the time I feel ashamed of what I see this country turning into, there will be plenty of blogs coming down the line, I have plenty of happier ideas, it won’t all be about doom and gloom, so watch the skies, there will be more incoming as soon as this one runs out of steam and numbers, until then be good, stay safe, stay alive and until the next blog its Toodles from me!

Broken Promises.

The promise was simple: work hard, stay loyal, and retirement would take care of itself. Decades later, that contract lies in pieces, and an entire generation is walking away from jobs that stopped delivering years ago. Why?

Clocking in for thirty years straight earned gold watches in the 1980s. Today, it earns redundancy when quarterly earnings dip. Companies preached family values while treating employees like disposable assets, and workers who gave everything got nothing back when times get tough.

Defined benefit plans vanished overnight, replaced by market-dependent retirement accounts that crashed spectacularly—twice. Employers shifted risk entirely onto employees, who watched their nest eggs shrink during the dotcom bust and the 2008 housing collapse while executive bonuses continued to climb.

The 1987 Black Monday crash hit early in careers. The 2001 recession struck during prime earning years. Then, the 2008 financial crisis devastated both home equity and retirement funds. Each recovery demanded starting over, and resilience wore thin after rebuilding the same financial foundation three separate times.

Output doubled through technology adoption and process improvements. Headcount still dropped during every reorganization. Surviving colleagues absorbed eliminated positions without additional compensation, working harder for companies that rewarded efficiency with redundancy notices rather than raises or job security.

Salaries allegedly increased roughly 10% over two decades while housing costs tripled in most areas. Groceries and university tuition for your kids outpaced income growth by staggering margins. Real purchasing power declined steadily, so the same job title afforded progressively less each year despite experience gains.

Premium contributions for private healthcare (if you didn’t have it in your salary package at work) that once cost £50 monthly now exceed £500 for family coverage in some cases even more. Deductibles simply climbed to hundreds of pounds before insurance pays anything. Prescription costs, specialist visits, more people are paying for private care simply because they can’t get seen by an NHS that is being raped by Management and outside contractors, they soon realise  surprise billing transformed healthcare from a benefit into a financial burden that devours pay checks faster than rent.

New technology like Pagers seemed intrusive in 1995. Smartphones made escape impossible by 2010. Employers expected instant email responses at 9 pm and vacation accessibility. The boundary between professional obligations and personal time dissolved completely, and this left workers perpetually on call without overtime compensation or mental health considerations.

Telecommunications, banking, retail, and manufacturing consolidated relentlessly. Each merger announcement triggered layoff rumours that usually proved accurate. Duplicate departments got "streamlined," which meant experienced workers training their replacements before receiving redundancy packages that barely covered mortgage payments until the next position materialized—if one materialized.

CV’s that date from the 1980s got filtered out by applicant tracking systems. Interview panels questioned whether older candidates could "keep up" with workplace changes. Promotions went to younger employees with flashier presentations rather than veterans with proven track records.

Fresh graduates with theoretical knowledge supervised professionals who'd navigated actual crises for decades. New bosses dismissed institutional wisdom as resistance to change and implemented strategies that veterans recognized as failed initiatives repackaged with buzzwords. Expertise became irrelevant when leadership prioritized youth over competence.

Productivity soared from home offices during lockdowns, destroying decades of management assumptions about supervision requirements. Commutes vanished, meetings shortened, and output increased—yet companies demanded returns to cubicles anyway. The charade became obvious: offices existed for control, not performance, and workers resented the transparent power play.

Retirement projections sometimes show income falling short of the lifestyle once promised. After factoring in healthcare, inflation, and longevity, some Gen X workers see limited payoff in staying longer. Instead, they leave demanding roles early, simplify living expenses, and rely on work to bridge the gap.

Caring for old parents while supporting adult children creates a financial squeeze unique to Gen X. Medical needs demand time and flexibility, while unstable employment and student debt keep adult kids dependent longer. Faced with constant strain, some Gen X workers reduce hours or exit the workforce earlier to regain control.

Offering to help with Student loans by co-signing loan agreements ( I know some people who have and the kids simply walked away and left the parents with the debt to pick up) doesn’t trigger retirement by itself (not that I would know, I couldn’t afford to offer any financial assistance as I am a one wage family), but it reshapes the timeline. When adult children struggle with payments, Gen X parents try to absorb financial risk that complicates long-term planning. Some choose earlier exits, downsizing, or career pivots to regain control before defaults threaten savings or credit stability.

Performative busyness replaced actual achievement as the primary success metric. Staying late signalled dedication regardless of output quality. Elaborate presentations mattered more than project outcomes. Workers who delivered results efficiently got overlooked while colleagues who mastered workplace theatre earned promotions.

Arbitrary age cutoffs dismiss professionals at peak competence. Skills accumulated over decades get discarded based on birth certificates rather than performance evaluations, as I found out after 35 years’ service with my previous employers. Forced exits eliminate institutional knowledge while younger replacements struggle through learning curves that retiring workers could have shortened, wasting organizational resources through unnecessary turnover.

Software replaced roles that once required human judgment and specialized training. Manufacturing positions disappeared due to robotics. Customer service moved to chatbots. Administrative functions got absorbed by algorithms. Career expertise became obsolete overnight. The result? Workers scrambling to reinvent themselves professionally.

Evaluation systems measured easily quantifiable data points while ignoring meaningful impact. Box-checking exercises replaced substantive feedback about value delivered. Subjective ratings from managers determined raises and promotions despite a disconnect from real accomplishments. The process reduced complex professional contributions to spreadsheet entries that captured nothing important about actual work quality.

Mastering new software platforms every few years wasn't enough when entire industries transformed overnight. Technologies learned last decade became irrelevant this quarter. And training budgets disappeared while job requirements expanded constantly. Those who built careers on specific expertise found themselves repeatedly starting over.

Hiring committees asked about favourite apps and weekend activities instead of discussing problem-solving capabilities. Decades of industry knowledge were lost to candidates who matched superficial cultural preferences. Experience became a liability framed as inflexibility. Gray hair in interview rooms triggered assumptions about technological incompetence regardless of actual digital fluency or professional accomplishments.

Traffic congestion doubled over twenty years while salaries remained flat. Fuel prices also fluctuated wildly. Parking fees climbed alongside real estate values. Two hours daily spent sitting in cars or crowded trains and buses represented unpaid work time that they never factored into hourly wage calculations or quality of life considerations.

Cubicle walls came down in the name of collaboration to replace privacy with constant noise and interruption. The issue with these settings is that now, phone conversations from thirty desks compete for attention simultaneously. Concentration became impossible when every sneeze and keyboard click echoed across warehouse-style floors.

Contract positions replaced permanent employment across industries previously known for stability. Benefits disappeared as companies reclassified employees as independent contractors. Steady pay checks gave way to variable income streams dependent on platform algorithms and client availability. The employment model that once provided security transformed into something resembling perpetual temp work with fancy branding.

Career advancement meant uprooting your family from established jobs and selling homes in down markets to move. Relocation packages shrank or vanished entirely while housing costs in corporate hub cities climbed beyond reach. Choosing family stability over professional growth has become common when companies refused to accommodate geographic preferences.

Decades of service offered zero protection when revenue projections dipped. Workers who sacrificed family time and personal health for corporate success got terminated via Zoom calls. Seniority and performance records became irrelevant during workforce reductions guided solely by spreadsheet formulas. The final lesson in corporate priorities arrived through impersonal video conferences.

Am I bitter about life in general, no I don’t think I am, however this blog was created due to a conversation I had with someone from my previous place of work who is proud of the new system of working, any place of work who can lose over 120 years of experience overnight from three people, when the rest of the team (that’s seventeen of them) don’t even have 100 years between them says just about everything you need to know, as of today I have 2048 days until I retire, and I simply cannot wait!

This reflection isn’t driven by bitterness, but clarity. With retirement in sight, the excitement comes not from what’s left to give—but from finally being done with a system that broke its promise long ago.